The Association of Consulting Engineers Malaysia (ACEM) Sabah has reiterated to all its members to update their standard practice to be in line with changes to the rules and guidelines set by the local authorities for submission of plans.

ACEM Sabah chairman Ir. Amirul Hisham Hj Ismail made the call in response to the reminder from Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Haji Aman recently to consultants to abide by the rules set by the regulatory authorities.

“We must remain vigilant on the changes, including the recent Quick Fix Solution in the Land Development Procedure 2016 as approved by the cabinet in June 2016. Other than addressing the perennial issue of non-issuance of subdivided and subsidiary and strata titles, the key objective of the procedure is for zoning approval and to expedite the approval process of development plans (DP). The submitting persons, i.e. engineer, architect or planners should bear the responsibility to ensure compliance,” said Amirul.

The Ministry of Local Government and Housing has formulated a mechanism to improve the delivery system in the approval of DP. The process of DP approval will be based on the current draft local plan where the type of zoning has been set – whether it is commercial, residential or others.

“Consulting engineers must uphold the engineering judgement to be beneficial not only to the project but also helps to achieve the state policy to have a systematic and well-planned layout without jeopardising the safety and convenience of the people and the protection of the environment,” added Amirul.

Meanwhile, in the Earthquake Design code, ACEM Sabah has also been involved in formulating the draft National Annex in Earthquake Design code.

“The formulation of the design code which is under the purview of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation has been on-going and led by SIRIM together with the IEM Technical Committee. ACEM Sabah is among other local experts like Professor Dr Azlan bin Adnan from UTM, Professor Dr Felix Tongkul from UMS, local technical departments JMG, City Hall, JKR and others have been working closely together to assist in the formulation of the Earthquake Micro-zoning and Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA) Map for Sabah.” said Amirul.

ACEM Sabah has taken the initiative to engage actively with the state government, including being members of the technical committee in City Hall and counsellors in many local district authorities.

“We remain supportive of the state government policy and ready to assist in providing our professional engineering technical input. ACEM Sabah appreciates the recognition of the state government towards the engineering profession in Sabah,” said Amirul

ACEM Sabah is currently registered with 39 panel companies and more than 120 individual practising professional engineers from the Civil, Structural, Mechanical and Electrical disciplines.

Amirul Hisham Hj Ismail was elected as the chairman of ACEM Sabah for the 2016/2017 session.

Source:
courtesy of THE BORNEO POST

by The Borneo Post

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